Adjustable reclining chairs



March 8, 1960 G. SICHELSCHMIDT 2,927,630

ADJUSTABLE RECLINING CHAIRS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 7, 1957 INVENTOI? G eria/u 'SI' /E/J /M/df March 1960 e. SICHELSCHMIDT 2,927,630

ADJUSTABLE RECLINING CHAIRS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 7, 1957 IN vs N r0 R vwm aye/n mw The present invention relates to new improvements in adjustable reclining chairs. More particularly, the invention relates to that type of reclining chairs in which a back rest, a seat part, and a leg-supporting part are pivotably mounted'on a stationary frame by means of fittings and also to each other so that, .when a person reposes in the chair, a change in the inclination of his body by leaning forwardly or toward the rear will also change the angularity of the individual parts of the chair relative to. each other and tothe stationary frame.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a reclining chair in which the respective adjustment of the angnlarit'y of the different parts relative to each other may be carried out without special manipulations of the chair, without use of any particular force, and

solely by a change of the position-of the person reposing,

ties Patent point which is coaxial to the fixed pin 7 4 slot connection. 'When the seat partis then moved for which the different parts of the chair might thusfadjust in the chair, and in which' the difi'erentparts of the chair whennot so adjusted by such person will remainin a state of equilibrium in any position intermediate its" two end positions.

Although there are numerous known chair designs which are intended for this purpose, none of them at:- complishes it completely or with inexpensive means. Thus, for example, some of these chair types do not permit a balanced intermediate position between the two end positions to be maintained unless the person reposing on the chair holds his body in a tense condition, while other types require a complicated and expensive mechanism consisting of numerous levers and joints in order to facilitate the relative adjustments of the chair parts.

It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide an adjustable reclining chair which overcomes these disadvantages of prior chair designs and accomplishes the first mentioned object completely and'with very inexpensivemeans and without requiring the person reposing in the chair to tense up in order to maintain the chair parts in a certain adjusted position, or to disribute his weight to suit the chair.

These objects of triepresenp invention are attained by connecting the movable parts of the chair, that is, the

back, seat; and leg-supporting parts, to each other by means of simple hinges, and by mounting the backrest to the one-armed lever or back rest at a point above this pivotal axis, and it is slidably connected with the front part of the chair frame by means of a'pin-and-slot connection in such a manner that, when the back rest of the chair is pivoted forwardly or rearwardly, such pivotal movement will automatically result in a change in inclina-.

the new chair in the sitting position,

wardly or rearwardly, this brace member willsp'ositively pivot the leg-supportmgpar't upwardly toward a-substan either by inclining the upper bodymore forwardly or,

hackwardl-y, will alone be sutficient for adjusting the chair from the sitting position to the reclining position or vice versa, or to any other position intermediate these two end positions. Regardless of the particular position to themselves in conformity with the position of a per sons body reposing on it, the weight of the upper body actingtoward the rear of the chair will always be balancedby the weightoffthe legs resting on the seat'an'd leg-supporting parts. Therefore, regardless of the-'posi tion which a personmay assume in the chair, his body may always be fully relaxed. V 1

The state of equilibrium of the chair in any position thereof is therefore attained by the increased leverage occurring when the upper body leans backwardand by the equally increased'leverage, of the leg support when the same is being pivoted upwardly and when such lever 7 age results in a corresponding pull upon thefronL-edg'e of the seat. Further objects,.features, and advantage'slof the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof, particularly'when read with refer: ence to the accompanying drawings, inwhich-- Fig. lillustrates a side. view, partly in cross section, of

Fig. 2 illustrates a similar view oflt-he chair in the reclining position; i Fig. .3 illustratesa view' similar to Fig lof a'-:slightly modified embodiment of the invention; while 1 i Fig. 4 illustrates a side view of the chair according to Fig. 3 in the reclining position. a V V T Referring to the drawings, and. first particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the stationary frame part of the chair consists' of a pair of side parts with armrest L'chair legs 2,side Walls S-connectingfithe front and rearlegs to each other,

and two crossbars 4.and 5 connectingside wa1ls-3 to each other. 'The movable parts ofthe chair consisting-0f the v back rest 6, and the 7,and-theleg support. 8 are con-1f j i nected to eachother-by hinges Qandlll, respectively. The

frame of back rest 6 Xtends downwardly beyond the seat 7 andaits lower end is securedto crossbar 5 by means of a hinge 11 which thusforrns the-pivotal'axisof back part 6. 'Hinge 1-1 ismounted in such a position that its'pivotal axis is disposed vertically underneath the center'of gr'avityof a person reclining in the chair. On both sides'of the chair, crossbar '4 carries abracket 13 with a pin 12 thereon which. extends into aslot Mina plate.15which is secured by screws to the respective side member of the frame of seati. Slot His-made of a particular curved shape so that'during the backward movement of s'eat7 caused by the'pivotal backward movement of the back tion of this seat part. The leg-supporting part of the I rest o about hinge 11, seat 7 will be slidably guided on pin-s 12 and at the'same time be pivoted upwardly about hinge 9 so that the front edge of the seat will be elevated. In

order to facilitate this combined sliding andelevating movement of seat 7, pins 12 are preferably provided with rollers. The same pins 12 also serve as pivots on which a pair of straps 16 are mounted at one end, while the otherend of each strap 16 is pivotably connected to the leg support 8 at a point spaced from hinge I'll, Straps 16 are designed so as to pivot the leg support 8 upwardly. toward a substantially horizontal position during the combined backward and elevating movement of seat 7."

Instead of providing slots 14- in separate plates 15 which are secured to the frame of seat 7, the side ,wallsof this esteemed Mar. s, 1960:: 4

of saidiipin-andframe may also be downwardly extended and provided with such slots.

While the leg support 8 according to the embodiment of the invention as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 is pivotably mounted on the movable seat 7 and the stationary side walls 3 of the chair so as to depend vertically downward when the chair is in the sitting position as shown in Fig. 1, the modification of the inventon as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 shows the leg support 8 to be tiltable underneath the seat so as to practically be unnoticeable when the chair is in the sitting position. T his may be attained by mounting hinge 10 on the lower edges of the leg support 8 and the frame of seat 7 rather than on the upper edges thereof, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This will result in a difierent pivotal movement of leg support 8 from the inwardly tilted position to the operative positionwhich it does not attain until the back rest 6, together with seat 7, have already been pivoted a certain distance toward the rear- In order to attain a complete state of equilibrium of the shifting weight of the movable elements in any position thereof, a tension spring 17 is connected at one end to the stationary crossbar 4 of the seat frame and at the other end to the downward extension of the back rest 6 at a point intermediate the pivotal axis 11 and the hinge 9. This spring 17 counteracts the force which is exerted upon back rest 6 when a person sitting in the chair leans backwardly and compensates the weight displacement in cooperation with the weight of the legs which then lie on foot support 8, which is tilted forwardly and upwardly up to a substantially horizontal position.

Although my invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiments there of, I wish to have it understood that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiments, but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, for example, the seat of the chair may also be guided and suspended in a manner different from that above described, provided the seat will always be positively guided during the movement so that the pivotal movement of the back of the chair will always be accompanied by the desired change in the position of the seat.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim is:

1. An adjustable reclining chair comprising a stationary frame, a back rest, a seat part, and a leg-supporting part, means for pivotably connecting said seat and leg-supporting parts to each other at their adjacent ends, means for pivotably connecting the other end of said seat part to said back rest at a point above its lower end, means for pivotably connecting said back rest near its lower end to said stationary frame so as to form a one armed lever, said lever being adapted to pivot about an axis disposed substantially vertically underneath a point where the center of gravity of a person would be located when reposing on said chair, a slide member secured to said seat part, at least one stationary member on said frame engaging with said slide member to permit the latter to slide relative to said stationary member and to be guided thereby so that at a pivotal movement of said back rest about its axis said seat part will not only move forwardly and backwardly with said back rest but will also change in its angular position relative to said back rest, and at least one member pivotably mounted at one end on said frame at-a point substantially coaxial to said stationary member and at the other end on said leg-supporting part at a point intermediate its ends so that, when said seat part moves backwardly with said back rest, said leg-supporting part is pivoted toward a substantially horizontal position.

2. An adjustable reclining chair as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for pivotably connecting said seat and leg-supporting parts comprise at least one hinge mounted on the adjacent upper edges of said parts.

3. An adjustable reclining chair as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for pivotably connecting said seat and leg-supporting parts comprise at least one hinge mounted on the adjacent lower edges of said parts, and a tension spring connected at one end to said frame at a point near said stationary member and at the other end to said back rest at a point intermediate said axis thereof and said means for pivotably connecting said seat part to said back rest.

4. An adjustable reclining chair as defined in claim 1, wherein said slide member comprises a pair of plates secured to each side of said seat part, each of said plates having a curved slot therein, said stationary member comprising a pair of pins mounted on said frame, each of said pins engaging into one of said slots.

5. An adjustable reclining chair as defined in claim 1, wherein said seat part comprises a frame, said slide member being integrally screwed to said seat frame and having at least one curved slot therein, said stationary mem ber comprising at least one pin mounted on said stationary frame and engaging into said slot.

' 6. An adjustable reclining chair as defined in claim 5, further comprising a roller ,on said pin to facilitate the relative sliding movement of said pin within said slot.

7. An adjustable reclining chair comprising a stationary frame, a back rest, .a seat part and a leg-supporting part interlinked with each other, means'for tiltably supporting said back rest at apoint on the frame, each side of said frame fixedly supporting pivot means, a slotted guide member secured to said seat part and slidably receiving said pivot means, a linking lever interconnecting said pivot means and said leg-supporting part, said linking lever and said slotted guide member being movable with respect to said pivot means.

8. An adjustable reclining chair as defined in claim 7, wherein the slot in said slotted guide member is inclined from the horizontal, and whereby said seat part is movable both forward and backward, and with said backward movement simultaneously is lifted from a substantially horizontal to an inclined position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,827,108 Lorenz Mar. 18, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 637,068 Great Britain May 10, 1950 737,396 Great Britain Sept. 2a, 1955 

